The cell stage is also swapped to being the final stage instead of the sixth stage like in the arcade version, it is also given a whole new layout and soundtrack. It replicates the slowdown of its arcade counterpart and discards the pseudo-3D and crystal/'cube rush' stages. ReleaseĪ port of Gradius III was released for the Super Famicom in Japan in December 1990 and for the Super NES in North America in 1991, with the option of reduced difficulty and additional armaments for the Vic Viper. Some of the weapons available in pre-defined schemes can not be used in custom schemes, and vice versa. In addition to new pre-defined weapon schemes, Gradius III introduces the 'Edit Mode' players can mix and match missile, double, laser, shield and 'special' ('!') power-ups into their own custom combination. The Asian and Worldwide arcade releases lack the beginner mode and retrospective introduction sequence, but reduce the difficulty overall. At the end of the third level, the game will bid the player to try the game again at the normal difficulty ('technical mode'), which can loop endlessly. The Japanese version of the game contains a 'beginner mode' that allows the player to venture through the first three levels at a much easier difficulty. The original arcade version is known by fans as being considerably more difficult than its predecessors, so much so that it prompted Konami to pull it from arcades rather quickly, since it did not include the continuation feature if the player loses all his/her lives, the game will be over. The game contains the familiar weapons, level layouts, and enemies that have become trademarks of the series. There are also two hidden levels that are based on the early sections of Gradius and Salamander.

Though the level is completely devoid of any enemies, free floating power-ups are scattered throughout. There are a total of ten levels in the game, with stage 4 being something of a bonus level here, the player controls the Vic Viper in a third-person perspective and must avoid colliding with walls. The player returns as the role of the pilot of the Vic Viper starfighter to battle the onslaughts of the Bacterion Empire.

Gradius iii snes rom